Tag Archives: play store

A few days ago, Rockstar released Grand Theft Auto: Vice City on the iOS App Store and the Play Store. However, the Android version of the game was buggy with most people who purchased the game unable to even download the extra required files or the game failing to even start.

Thanks to all the 0-star ratings and negative reviews, Rockstar pulled the game from the Play Store but promised that it will bring it back soon with all the bugs fixed. Today, the company has once again re-released GTA: Vice City on the Play Store with all the bugs fixed.

Before you get excited, keep in mind that the game is incompatible with quite a few popular Android devices out there including some variants of the Galaxy Note 2, some U.S variants of the Galaxy S2, all Tegra 2 based phones and a few other devices.

If you get an incompatibility error, I will suggest you to email the Rockstar support team. Rockstar has also uploaded the whole 1.4GB+ of game files to the Play Store so the 15-minute refund window of the Play Store will start only after the game has finished downloading.

Gameloft — known for releasing games eerily similar to some popular gaming titles out there — has released Modern Combat 4 on the Play Store. The game is the company’s own copy of the popular Call Of Duty series for mobile devices. The game was released on iOS a few days ago, and was released on the Play Store just a few hours ago today.

Arm yourself for FPS action!

The #1 Action FPS game is back on smartphone with a new chapter to push the boundaries of mobile gaming even further. In the wake of nuclear warfare, the only chance to avoid global devastation is in the hands of the few elite soldiers who must track down and rescue the world’s leaders from a frighteningly familiar terrorist group.

Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour is a typical Gameloft game with below-average controls — at least on smartphones, stellar graphics, a $6.99 price tag and requires a whopping 1.8GB+ of free space on your device. Considering that the game downloads the additional file from Gameloft’s own server, making the 15-minute Play Store refund window useless.

The game will work on any Android 2.3 Gingerbread+ devices, but considering the quality of graphics, make sure you have a decently powerful smartphone or tablet before spending $6.99 on it.

Google and LG are clearly struggling with the demand for the Nexus 4. The company should have prepared itself after being bombarded with orders when the phone sold-out in just 20 minutes in Europe, Australia, United Kingdom and the United States when it was initially released on 13th November.

As if these late shipping times were not enough, Google today finally put the Sold Out/Out of stock’ tag back on the 8GB variant of the Nexus 4 on the Play Store. The 16GB variant of the handset is not doing any better with a shipping time of around 9-10 weeks i.e. not before 2013. There is a very high possibility that the 16GB variant of the Nexus 4 will also go out of stock from the Play Store in the next few days. So, if the extremely long shipping times don’t bother you, head over to the Play Store and order the 16GB Nexus 4 now.

Looking at the way how Google and LG are struggling with the Nexus 4 orders in the United States, I am not too optimistic of the handset coming back in stock in Canada and other regions of the world anytime soon.

Google has just sent out emails to everyone who signed up to be informed about the Nexus 4 availability that the handset will be back in stock in the United States Play Store at 12PM PST.

The Google Nexus 4 launch has been nothing short of a painful experience for all interested buyers. The handset was sold out within 20 minutes in nearly all the regions it went up on sale via the Play Store on November 13th.

Looking at how quickly the Nexus 4 sold out last time, I would suggest all interested Nexus 4 buyers to be on top of their game if they want the handset – order as fast as your Internet connection allows you to.

Google has also imposed a limit of two Nexus 4 per Google account this time. This means that if you have already ordered two Nexus 4 the last time, you won’t be able to order it this time. You can, however, order two 8GB variant of the handset.

This move from Google will definitely reduce the amount of people who will try to bulk order the Nexus 4 and then sell it on eBay for a premium.

Beginning from today, Android users would need a Google+ profile to post app reviews in the Play Store. All the previous user reviews from Android users are now shown as from ‘A Google User’.

From now on, all reviews in the Play Store will include the reviewer’s Google+ Profile name along with his G+ profile picture. As of now, new reviews from users who have connected their account to Google+ are still being shown as ‘A Google user’, but this problem should be rectified soon from Google.

This move from Google will definitely help in reducing the amount of poor app reviews in the Play Store, along with Spam comments. It will also allow developers to actually reach out to people who have posted reviews.

Apart from the exhaustive list above, quite a few Gameloft games have also gone on sale on the Play Store and the iOS AppStore including Asphalt 7, The Amazing Spiderman, and BackStab HD. If the above list is not enough for you, keep an eye on this Reddit thread for updates.

The iOS AppStore is also filled with price reductions for all the popular apps. EA has reduced the price of nearly all of its titles to a mere $0.99, making this the perfect time to grab your favorite EA games. Other apps that have gone on sale include Track 8, 1Password, ChuChu Rocket, Avengers Initiative, Real Racing, Real Racing 2, QuickOffice Pro, Fieldrunners 2 and more. In fact, most of the popular apps in ‘Top Paid Apps’ category in the AppStore are priced at around $0.99 currently. The whole list of iOS apps that have gone on sale or are free to download can be found here.

The most important part of a mobile ecosystem is the availability of apps, as it drives adoption. A higher number of apps on a platform attracts more developers creating a self-sustainable ecosystem. Although Google and Apple are fighting a tough battle for dominance in the mobile space, Apple is still winning for many reasons.

Back in September, Apple announced that their App Store had hit 700,000 apps. Now, Bloomberg has reported that Google’s Play Store is also reaching 700,000 apps, and this threatens Apple’s dominance in the mobile space. However, I am a bit skeptic about how this news is spreading like wildfire. Google may have reached 700,000 apps in its Play Store, but is there any word on that from Google? Last I checked, the Nexus 4 page says there are 675,000 apps in the Play Store.

Did Bloomberg mean to say that “675,000” is the same as “about 700,000″? Following Bloomberg, almost all top tech-blogs are reporting with certainty that Play Store has indeed reached 700,000 apps and most of them are citing Bloomberg as their source. What surprises me is that if this really is big for Play Store, why is there no word on this from Google?

I am not very pleased with the prospects of Play Store reaching 700,00 apps even if it did. Google needs to put better quality control in place for the Play Store, something that Apple has perfected over the years. Half of the apps on the Play Store are utterly useless, rigged with malware or simply copies of apps from the App Store. There are very few apps on the Play Store that would make me proud of being an Android user, and it is not getting any better. Perhaps, Google should give this number battle a backseat, and start focusing on quality instead.

Beginning from today, Android developers in India will be able to directly sell paid apps, in-app products and subscriptions in the Play Store.

India has played a major role in Android’s growth with device activations in India jumping around 400%. Android users in India have also downloaded more apps than they downloaded in the last three years, sky-rocketing the country to the fourth-largest country in terms of app downloads.

Along with support for paid apps, Google has also added support for Indian currency and other currencies for developers to take advantage of. Developers will be paid directly by Google at the end of each month to their local bank accounts.

Google had earlier added India to the list of countries that could sell paid apps in the Play Store, but removed it just a day after. Now, with Google officially announcing the the inclusion of India to the list of countries that can sell paid apps in the Play Store, Indian developers don’t need to worry about the country once again disappearing from the list without any explanation.

Beginning from today, Google has started rolling out a new version of the Play Store that brings with it quite a lot of new changes. First of all, the updated Play Store (v3.9.16) brings with it expanded notifications for Jelly Bean users. Now, the Play Store will notify users of the name of the apps for which updates are available, instead of just saying “x Updates Available”. The notification bar logo has also been changed to the Play Store logo, which looks neat.

However, the most important change in the update is that the Play Store *finally* keeps your position in a list, and does not scroll back to the top, after you check an app description and come back to the list. After the low resolution Google Contacts syncing issue, the Play Store not retaining a user’s position in a list was among the most frustrating bugs plaguing Android users.

Finally, users can now remove apps from the ‘My Apps’ section in the Play Store. You can select multiple apps by long-pressing on them, and removing them by pressing the Trash icon at the top.

The Play Store in your Android phone will automatically be updated over the next few weeks, but if you cannot wait, head over to Android Police to manually download and install the APK.

Halfbrick Studios is known for releasing some high quality games including Fruit Ninja and Age of Zombies. The company has released much more games for the iOS AppStore than on the Play Store, but is slowly bringing some of its successful titles from the former to the latter.

Back in August, Halfbrick released Jetpack Joyride for Android users, but the game was available as a free download only via the Amazon AppStore. Today, the exclusivity of the game has ended and Halfbrick has released the game on the Play Store for free. Time for some fun-filled adventure with Barry Streakfries, eh? Head over to this link to install the game for free.

In other Android related gaming news, Ubisoft has finally released its hit iOS title – Rayman Jungle Run – on the Play Store. The game has excellent graphics, and an even excellent gameplay to keep the player addicted. The game can be purchased from the Play Store for $2.99.

Lastly, Rovio released its much anticipated game – Bad Pigges – on the iOS and Android App Stores. For a change, it is nice to see Rovio not release another Angry Birds like game. Bad Piggies combines the gameplay of Rovio’s Amazing Alex and Angry Birds, with the usual colorful graphics as seen in other games from the company, to make for one addictive game. The game is free to download but has some in-app purchases, which thankfully do not affect the gameplay of the user at all.